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On Thursday afternoon, several people from ABC 33/40 were at the brand new Oxford Publix to help people program weather radios. Many people came out to have their radios programmed. The lines wrapped around to the back of the store! But everything was moving quickly! James Spann even did a couple of live shots for Focus @ 4 and the evening newscasts. Here are some pictures from the event.

This is weeks 51-52 in my series of Shape Up! The weekly post on what I did over the last week in my quest to getting healthier.

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Can you believe it! It has been one year since I began the Shape Up campaign. In January 2012 ABC 33/40 came out to do a story and as they say, the rest is history. Here is the story to remind yourselves.

Over the last year things have been tough. I have been on the job search which seems endless. I have applied to over 100+ jobs and gone to 14 job fairs. I even stood in a long line in the hot summer sun to attend a job fair in Birmingham. So even today I am still committed to finding my latest job. I have also been eating a lot less food in the last year. I mostly do this to save money! I wish I could do much more to speed up the weight loss but when you have very limited funds you can not do much. Most of my exercising has come from walking. And I only eat one meal a day to save money. And I guess you can say it is paying off. Here is me wearing my biggest pair of shorts. The size of the shorts is 58 and yes, you see a huge gap!

The last week has also been tough on my computer. Last Friday my hard drive went belly up. The good thing is all of my important stuff was saved through Dropbox so I did not lose anything important. After I replaced the hard drive the computer is still acting up. I re-installed Windows and after I shut down or restart the computer, I get a message saying “insert boot drive.” I have tried every trick in the book to fix it and nothing has been successful. So most likely my computer will be going to the computer shop on Monday morning. I do think another hardware issue is causing the issues on my computer. This is why you have seen fewer posts on Geek Alabama. I hope I can get back to a normal schedule soon!

One more thing, I am still on a mission to show the world that people with Autism or Asperger’s are not evil people. Since the school shootings several people out there have received bad information from the media that people with Asperger’s are bad people. Guess what? People with Autism or Asperger’s are some of the nicest people you will ever meet! I am proud to see Miss Montana Alexis Wineman come out and say that she has Autism. “Most people do not understand what autism is,” says Wineman in her video entry for the Miss America online finalist competition. “And 1 in 88 people having some form of autism, this understanding is becoming more and more necessary.” To that end, she has made her platform “Normal is Just a Dryer Setting: Living with Autism.”

Alexis Wineman who is 18 was not only the first contestant in the Miss America Pageant with Autism, she also won the America’s Choice Vote and was advanced to the semi-finals! As for me, this sign I made is something I hope will go viral! Before I go, I might have some very exciting things coming soon but for right now I can’t talk about it. Stay tuned folks! The sign reads, “I am not afraid of this world; I just want to make a difference! I am autistic.”

This is weeks 49-50 in my series of Shape Up! The weekly post on what I did over the last week in my quest to getting healthier.

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Yes, I decided to skip one week of Shape Up because of Christmas. But don’t worry because I am back! Speaking of which, It is getting very close to the one year mark! Last January Shape Up began when I was on ABC 33/40 Focus @ 4. Here is the video to remind yourselves. I am hoping they will come back out for a one year check up.

Yes, I do think I am in better shape than a year ago. Ever since the school shootings at Sandy Hook. The national mainstream media has put a bad rap on us with Asperger’s Syndrome. I want to show the world that Aspie’s are not evil people. Here is me posing in front of the sign reading “I am not afraid of this world; I just want to make a difference! I am autistic.”

I also hope you read my 2012 Christmas wish post. Give yourself about 30 minutes to read the post and watch the video!

So this week I want to talk about a story I saw online. This article is from Men’s Health Magazine. They came out with a story ranking the healthiest cities for men. The top 5 cities were Boise, ID; San Jose, CA; San Francisco, CA; Plano, TX; and Seattle, WA. What do these five cities have in common except all of them being west of the Mississippi River? These cities are home to very active people. Boise has miles and miles of bike trails and it is very easy and safe to ride a bike. San Jose and San Francisco has some of the highest amounts of people exercising. Plano has some of the safest drivers in the country. And Seattle has the highest concentration of coffee drinkers.

But what makes this list surprising is the five least healthiest cities for guys. The five least healthiest cities are St. Louis,MO; Toledo, OH; Charleston, SC; Philadelphia, PA; and Birmingham, AL. That’s right; Birmingham is the least healthiest city for guys in America! Cue the Price is Right loser horn!

Men’s health delved into more than a dozen data sources in order to assemble city rankings in 38 different criteria, including everything from air quality to unemployment, cost of living to death rates. They factored in property crime and criminally long commute times. They even took into account the ratio of single men to single women. I have a couple of ideas on why Birmingham is the least healthiest city in America for guys.

One, people in Alabama love the unhealthy southern food. We will eat fried foods, BBQ and drink sweet tea all the time! Second, it’s dangerous to exercise. Ever tried to walk, run, or ride a bike along a road. Many drivers like to run pedestrians and cyclists off the road! You should not have to get in a car and drive just to get to an area so you can walk, run, or ride a bike. And third, Birmingham has the highest concentration of single drivers in America. With a horrible mass transit system and corrupt cities, this makes people commute long distances every day. I can see why we are unhealthy.

Sadly; it’s going to take a lot of work to get off the unhealthy list. We need to make it easier to walk and ride a bike along a road. It will not hurt cities to put in bike lanes and bike paths to make exercising easier. We also need to stop the corruption in Jefferson County and the City of Birmingham. Many people commute from Shelby County to Birmingham every day because of the corruption. People would love to work and live in downtown Birmingham but that will never happen until all the corruption is cleaned up. Also the bad schools and high crime rates have to be cleaned up as well! We also need to discuss the poverty and food issue. For families with low-income, it’s cheaper to buy high calorie processed food instead of healthy food. We have to fix that!

Yes; I am not happy to see the Birmingham Metro being ranked as the least healthiest city for guys in America. But the metro area needs to WORK TOGETHER to help fix this problem. So far; the cities and counties in the metro area has a problem of not working together on anything. That must change!

As for me last week, I only have one meal a day since I have been unemployed for 17 months and looking for my 14th job in seven years. It’s gets old sitting here with nothing to do! At least Christmas went okay for me this year.

This is week fourteen in my series of Shape Up! The weekly post on what I did over the last week in my quest to getting healthier.

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Over the last week I was featured again on ABC 33/40 on the show Focus @ 4. Yes people can tell I have lost some weight. I get comments from the people who know me that I do look better. It’s great that I get great compliments from people who say I am looking better. When people give you great comments about you. You just want to continue on your journey to get healthier. And that’s great! So if you missed the three-month check-in watch the video below!

Over the last weekend I did a ton of walking. I covered several events on Saturday all across Alabama and at the end of day I feel asleep on the couch. I probably walked around 2-3 miles over the weekend and my feet were ready for a break. But people really love me covering weekend events and putting them on the blog. I always get great comments from people who love seeing the pictures and videos of the events going on in Alabama. And this weekend will even be more busier.

This weekend is the huge bike festival here in Anniston. On both days I will be out covering the activities going on in the area. And yes do look for pictures and videos here on Geek Alabama. I will probably walk another 2-3 miles this weekend while taking pictures and videos. And that is a good thing! This weekend I will be wearing a pedometer. So next week I will tell you how many steps I walked. And I already know the number will be huge!

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For all of you that saw the update story about me on Focus @ 4 and ABC 33/40. Welcome to Geek Alabama. The blog about current topics, weekend events, and the world of geeks and nerds in Alabama. One part of the blog is about Shape Up! The weekly post on what I did in the last week to become healthier. Here is the original story that started it all.

And here is the three month update on ABC 33/40.

And here are my last four posts under Shape Up! Come back each Saturday morning for the latest edition of Shape Up! And enjoy the many other posts on Geek Alabama!